Lake Louise gondola breakdown.

[Foz]

Last Updated Sun, 27 Nov 2005 23:19:27 EST
CBC News
A gondola malfunctioned at the Lake Louise ski resort in Alberta, trapping dozens of people in dangling cabins for up to five hours as night set in and temperatures dropped.

Rick Werner, the operations manager at the resort in Banff National Park, said a safety switch on the Grizzly Express gondola tripped at about 3 p.m. MST on Sunday.

It stranded about 75 people – including children – along the resort's longest lift, which stretches 2,918 metres from the resort's base to a mountaintop.

Eight ski patrol teams began rescuing people after 5:30 p.m., using a pulley device to reach individual cabins and then lowering people in harnesses to the ground.

It took until nearly 9 p.m. to get everyone down and take them off the mountain by snowmobile or snow cat.

Resort officials said the worst injuries reported were a few cases of frostbite.

As the rescue operation continued into the evening, angry parents accused the resort of mishandling the incident.

Michael Guiffre, a cardiologist whose two sons were on the gondola when it stopped, called it a fiasco.

He condemned the resort for waiting two hours before attempting to remove people from the gondola cabins.

Temperatures had dipped to –6 on some parts of the mountain by early evening, as forecasters predicted a low of –10 and light snow flurries overnight.

The resort promised there would be a full investigation into the incident.

[DJ Lazy]

Those angry parents should be glad it was a gondola and not a normal fuckin chair lift...


It sucks to hear, but damn, cut the resort some slack until you know the full circumstances of the event (this isn't directed at teh poster of this thread.. just a general statement)

[7thgenvic]

I just read that! fucked up! i wish that was me and i would complain for a season pass

[nismodrifter]

They can't just start plucking people from the damn thing. You either wait a bit and allow them to get setup so they can get your kids down safe or they rush...and your kid falls 2000000 feet to the ground. Either way they will be pissed. Shit happens.

[rc2002]

Damn! I was *this* close to going to Louise today for riding. Good thing I didn't!

[Foz]

Originally posted by DJ Lazy
not a normal fuckin chair lift...

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. If it was a chair lift and cold temperatures at -20C. That'd would be hell.

['93 SR-V]

Sucks to be those guys! But seriously, I think the article makes it sound worse than it is... For one, they are sheltered, there will be a few people in that car keeping it warm, and it only dropped to -6 on some parts of the mountain (read TOP). But still, being stuck up there for hours on end would drive me crazy... if I were up there, I would be raising hell with RCR.

[tapout]

[djayz]

if your kids arent bundled up properly for the snow and shit how could you blame the resort for frostbite and shit at -6 not alot can happen unless your not wearing anything

it couldnt have been that bad....specially to call it a fiasco

[Team_Mclaren]

people bitch about absolutely everything when they have a chance to. I believe that the resort is doing everything in their power to help those people back on the ground. It's not like they are gonna leave u there overnight.

[95EagleAWD]

It takes time to get this stuff organized.

However...

I just got off the phone with my older brother. He's Ski Patrol here at Marmot.

He told me if that happened up at Marmot, it'd take them 20-30 minutes to decide to rope-evac everyone off the lift. If you've never seen this, it's pretty cool. Waiting that long to do it is crap, apparently

75 people is not alot. He said they could evac that in an hour. They did a 75% load on their quad (about 300 people or so) in 3 hours.

Bottom line, Louise's patrol fucked the dog hard on this one. They'll learn the hard way, but it sucks to be educated that way.

But as far as lawsuits and complainers go.... fuck 'em. Read the back of the lift ticket. The Ski Area Operator isn't responsible for ANYTHING that happens to you on their site. If you die, it's your risk, not theirs. If you have to chill in a gondola for a few hours, too bad. Part of the risk of skiing/riding.

I'd be pissed, but would understand it.

[Foz]

They gave everyone that was trapped on the chair lift a free day pass.

[s dime]

Originally posted by 95EagleAWD
He told me if that happened up at Marmot, it'd take them 20-30 minutes to decide to rope-evac everyone off the lift. If you've never seen this, it's pretty cool. Waiting that long to do it is crap, apparently

75 people is not alot. He said they could evac that in an hour. They did a 75% load on their quad (about 300 people or so) in 3 hours.

Bottom line, Louise's patrol fucked the dog hard on this one. They'll learn the hard way, but it sucks to be educated that way.

But as far as lawsuits and complainers go.... fuck 'em. Read the back of the lift ticket. The Ski Area Operator isn't responsible for ANYTHING that happens to you on their site. If you die, it's your risk, not theirs. If you have to chill in a gondola for a few hours, too bad. Part of the risk of skiing/riding.

I'd be pissed, but would understand it. [/B]

I somewhat agree with this statement. But, you have to realize that getting people down from a chairlift and a gondola is very different. The gondola at lake louise is 3 or 4 times higher off the ground than the quad at marmot basin = a much longer rescue time. What also added to the response time was the fact that ski patrol was told not to start rescuing people off of the gondola because "it may start up any time" and that would obviously be very dangerous for the rescuers. The problem was an electrical malfunction, which they apparently could not trace, which is why the lift could have started at any time. I know that the people stuck on the gondola will all recieve a free day pass to lake louise for their troubles.

[Kobe]

Buddy works for RCR down on 17thave...
said there was Media there all day...

[s dime]

yeah there was media there all day, who is your buddy?

[GQBalla]

oh no sounds bad....
so this is what my physics teacher asked me today!
crazy.....

[Kobe]

Originally posted by s dime
yeah there was media there all day, who is your buddy?

bryan K

[snowboard]

Fuck those cry babys, like said they shoulda been dressed right.

i wont lie though i woulda been scared, i didnt start snowboarding till later then all my freinds cause i was scared of lifts/gondolas aha i wont lie!

[Kobe]

Originally posted by snowboard
Fuck those cry babys, like said they shoulda been dressed right.

i wont lie though i woulda been scared, i didnt start snowboarding till later then all my freinds cause i was scared of lifts/gondolas aha i wont lie!

You think you have it bad, I was at cop when i was younger, had a "BZ" snowboard, and my edge was coming out, i was like WTFFF, bent over to try and fix it while 20feet above ground on the chairlift, and i fell off...

Havn't told my parents to this day what happened tho, told them i fell hitting the table.. rofl:

I hit the ground pretty hard,.. sprained both legs...

I always put the bar down now.. All my buddies always laugh at me for it...:

[Benny]

Originally posted by Kobe


You think you have it bad, I was at cop when i was younger, had a "BZ" snowboard, and my edge was coming out, i was like WTFFF, bent over to try and fix it while 20feet above ground on the chairlift, and i fell off...

Havn't told my parents to this day what happened tho, told them i fell hitting the table.. rofl:

I hit the ground pretty hard,.. sprained both legs...

I always put the bar down now.. All my buddies always laugh at me for it...:

My ex once fell off the chairlift at COP.

I was just sitting there while she was giving me some shit. Apparently she turned to bitch at me with too much force because she slipped right off the chair and fell to the ground. She was fine when I got to her. Shut her up too.